Encouragement to those in the Faith and pursuing His kingdom on Earth

This past Thursday was Treasure Hunting! whooo. It has consistently proved to be one of my favorite times of the week....that and the one time I meet with this wonderful woman of God once a week ;)

Pues, the purpose of this post is to share the encouraging moments of yesterday. We met, prayed, worshiped and called out and listened to God together, and before we left this guy Justin shared this Psalm and encouragement idea. I'm actually unsure which Psalm it was. Possibly Psalm 59:8 which reads:

"But You O Lord laugh at them"

or it could have been Psalm 2:4:

"The One enthroned in heaven laughs"

Either one, they both work. Well, he encouraged us to share some of our fears, the lies from the enemy that we shouldn't believe, but do, so that we can laugh at them. Which sounded silly, but it was such a source of joy let me tell you! Well, Earlier in the night this guy Royce said, "I'm gonna jut make a big plea God, don't let us encounter any hard hearts. I pray that everyone be open that we talk to." I shared that when I individually tried to pray that, I had admitted personally to myself that I had such little faith. That I couldn't believe it; the past two weeks I was punted and completely rebuked. (It was in those times my mom encouraged me, with "The world will hate you, but it is not you they hate but [Christ in us]," very encouraging). So I shared that, and how I was praying that I couldn't imagine: out of all the people we will talk to, how can not one get ignored or hated? We all had a good laugh at that disbelief and set out.

I got a chance to see the Holy Spirit move in amazing ways, and He blessed me by allowing me to see my part in His plan that night! For a long time, Satan had me fooled into believing 'coincidences' or even that I don't even hear the Spirit. And other such nonsense. Anyway, the Spirit gave me a very clear picture of a man I mistook for a friend of mine, so I assumed it was him. Anyway, I get discouraged so easily and I had thought surely he must be at Fuddrucker's. When he wasn't there, I believed more of Satan's lies, that I made this up. But I just kept praying His mercy for my unbelief, and prayed faith to believe His promises.

So me and Royce go to Petco, cause he the Lord told him turtles, fishes/fish tank and...something else.....anyway I can't remember. We go there, and there he is. However not chris, but the guy that I saw in my head that looked exactly like Chris. He was the guy we were supposed to talk to!! And the movement of the Spirit inside me was something like Joy, I remember. I felt justified against all those lies then. I hold this to myself, and we see him again, of course, by the turtles and this is when I tell Royce. He agrees. So we look for him and, of course, he's elbow deep in a fish tank.

The talk was great, he knew about Christ, but not WHO he is, like personally, or about His perfect Love. The sweet part was we talked to him for like 10 minutes, and it was as if he was waiting for us to talk to him. As if our visit was what the Spirit used as a catalyst. I knew this, because after we prayed for him, when we were wrapping things up, I thought in my head 'now would be a good time to extend an invitation' but the Spirit told me "I have already taken care of that. You do not need to worry about Him" Like, I felt the Spirit assuring me that He was already there! And the questions he asked! (He literally asked me, "so what turned you to Him?" awesome!)

At the end of the night, after everyone shared their testimonies, of course of course of course, NO ONE encountered a hard heart. All the hearts were open! He heard our big prayer and regardless of my little faith in praying it, He answered! He wants us only to ask, that is how I believe we demonstrate our faith. We have such a good Father :)

On top of this, be assured that movements of who the Holy Spirit is, that He lives in us, and fascination and the pursuit of God on earth that resides within us is evident in other churches. That is my real note of encouragement. That I have heard of pockets of believers from Grace, Community Church, even Church of Christ who are interested in KNOWING and MANIFESTING and WALKING in this Spirit. And this is an encouragement to those pursuing or have yet to, to continue on. He is at work in you and others.

Two tests and a paper ain't got nothin on me

I meet with Kayla soon ( I guess that constitutes a shout out?) anyway, just enough time for a blog update.....

I am constantly in awe of the movement of the Spirit. It's amazing to me considering the already high expectations I have of Him, that He STILL astounds me and my only reaction is praise. That so many areas of my life are focused on pursuing the Spirit, and knowing Him intimately that resides in me, and not only that, but that OTHER people as well are becoming aware and practicing walking in His Spirit daily, what is that??? The synchronic (not a word) movement of God. That's what it is. And it is SO COOL.

I am going to start reading Tozer's Leaning Into the Wind with Angela (second shout out?) and am flippin excited. For lack of a better phrase, but I think it gets my point across. We put a pause on pursuit of Holiness, which has singlehandedly caused so much journaling and writing in a book on my part it's ridiculous. But it is for purity we have been called, so that is what we are to strive after.

Sydney (three count) came and visited this past week and it was fun times 100 we shared a bed. Haha, which I won't even do with Jessica....(4th) She came with me to Treasure Hunters, and I again got a chance to enjoy that special joy that comes with sharing something you truly love with someone you truly love as well :) Also, I stole her toothpaste.

Treasure Hunting

I have an exam tomorrow that I haven't studied for, but I have weighed importance in my life in the way of 'blogging vs. studying', and find blogging my experience the weighter of the two.

IT'S AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!

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So, praise Jesus that I can hear Him!

"My sheep hear My Voice..." John 10:27

That verse is my encouragement. His continual blessing on me in pursuing this evangelism He's placed so heavily on my heart has been so crazy.....ahhhh words fail!

Last week I went to Home Depot, because that was DEFINITELY where He wanted me to go, though He knows I felt silly writing it down. But I went and recieved a HUGE blessing from this lady, Sherri, who offered to pray for me over my worries about where to go and what to do when I graduate.

This week was harder. I got chimeney. Or chimney. Whatever. Anyway.....we went to blue baker on dominik and lo and behold there it was. The one that I saw. And He led me to Kiki and now I can invite her to church cause I have her number! And He saved a wal-mart employee today through Lance!! He's raining down blessings on College Station and people are seeing it and experiencing Him!!

Oh man. I'm also learning discipline and obedience. Although, minus the negative connotation discipline has, because it's more of a joyful surrender. Compliments of Elisabeth Elliot.

God is so good to us; we need only to trust and obey. He is teaching me to hear Him and obey, giving me boldness I never had before!!

For the sake of future sarah

Blog blog blob slob

Got that out of my system. I just finished Passion and Purity by one of JVS's main ladies, Elisabeth Elliot. (Henceforth, referred to as P&P by E.E) What a blessing! I feel at times that what Jim and 'Bett' (as he called her) had is impossible, given my natural cynicism. What kind of unerathly love is that, which waits 5 years, and doesn't allow a kiss, or even at times regular correspondence? But that is exactly what it is. Unearthly. Of course the natural course of thought is disbelief because such love is not from this earth, but from above. It is not in my limited knowledge to understand it, but it is within my God-given capacity to accept it as a possibility. Just as the love of Jesus which took the form of the cross is not understandable to me, but is a reality, that kind of love described by E.E in her book exsists, if even I don't experience it on earth.

What I most enjoyed were her constant references back to scripture, to hymns, and to authors whom she's read before who wrote truth. I hope to have those same resources at my disposal for when the storm comes, because it will. I hope to hide His word in my heart. I have recently taken to reading more authors of the 'christian' genre. (I hesitate at using 'christian' as an adjective, I dislike what it connotates which is probably why I have for so long stayed away from literature characterized as such) Regardless, I have today made some purchases of which I am very proud. A book by Jerry Bridges, one called 'Messy Spirituality' and another about missionary work. I hope to find the truths in all of these books.

Another point that P&P touched on was the call to obedience, especially when the desire to be obedient is constantly at war with the desire of the flesh. That actually is the entire point of the book now that I reread that last sentence, haha. Ahem....anyway.....this realization has caused a new request in my prayer life. One that asks He reveals to me ways in which my will does not match His. I guess that has always been a prayer, however now I feel that I have something real as an example.

My prayer is not on relationships, which is what this book is about on surface level, but on my future. This book is one above all on patience, trust and waiting on the Lord. I don't want to forget the lady I talked to this past Thursday while Treasure Hunting, and the promise the Lord spoke through her to me -

Trust in the LORD with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make your paths straight.

I know that He who has promised is faithful, and I need only to wait on His answer.